Medford mail tribune., December 16, 1962, Image 13

PAGES 1 to 10
The Asian World at Year's End
MedfordiTribune
MEDFORD. OREGON. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 19B2
SECTION B
With Half Earth's Population
Pot
Still
Boils
(Editor'! note: In lhe following dispatch, veteran UPI
correspondents report on the situation in Asia today, in
cluding the prospects ol war or peace and the stability of
governments. Their reports have been summarised by
UPl's general news manager for Asia.)
BY DONALD J. BRYDON
United Press International
Tokyo-OIPD-While the eyes of the world are focused on
Cuba and Berlin, the pot continues to boil over in Asia
where half the world's population is packed into one-fourth
of the land mass.
The Communist and Nationalist Chinese armies glare
at one another across the narrow Formosa straits, each
threatening to attack the other. And 2,000 miles away, the
Red Chinese armies are menacing India's northern frontier,
while thousands of other Indian troops are stationed in
the Kashmir to keep Pakistan from taking it.
American troops are going into battle against the
Communist-led Viet Cong every day in Viet Nam. Other
American forces stand at the ready along the so-called
demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, while
thousands more are on constant alert on Okinawa, ready
to move to any new trouble spot within the hour.
Where is the peace that seemed so near at the end of
World War II? Where are the democratic leaders who
sprang up in Asia, ready to lead their nations along the
paths of Western society?
A survey by veteran correspondents of United Press
International of the progress of each Asian nation over
the past decade reveals that with the exception of Japan,
India, Malaya and the Philippines democracy is a fad
ing ideal. Most Asian nations never experienced true rule
of, by and for the people. Some which had a brief taste
now are ruled by "strongmen" leaders who believe in a
concept sometimes called, "guided democracy."
As 1962 comes to an end, there is one dark specter on
the horizon. It is Communist China, and its possession
of the nuclear bomb. Scientists all agree China has the
technical and material ability to build its own atomic and
hydrogen wea'pons. China admits it is working night and
day on this grim project. Most experts think China will
join the "nuclear club" in three or four years; some say
within two years.
The face of Asia has changed drastically in the past 10
years. It has even changed in the past year. And it is
certain to change still more.
Here, then, is the situation as it exists today in the
far East, eountry-by-country:
Japan
The growth of Japan over the past 10 years in almost
every field is little short of amazing. The gross national
product has almost doubled. Although the figures for 1961
and 1962 are not yet available, the growth rale of the
Japanese economy over the preceding year was 13 per
cent in 1960 and almost 18 per cent in 1959.
The population of Japan has risen past 94 million, a
jump of almost 10 million in the past 10 years, but the
birth rate is the lowest in Asia and population experts
believe this will not be a major problem in the future.
Today, Japan produces tanks, missiles, submarines,
super-sonic jet fighter planes, missile destroyers and other
modern weapons for its so-called "self defense forces."
The conservatives have been in power in Japan for
the past 10 years, and even the left-leaning socialists show
signs of moving more toward the center in Japanese
politics. The socialists make up the largest minority party,
with the Communists fading further into the background.
Communist China
Communist China has trod a long and wavering road
in the past 10 years. China found itself a decade ago still
largely shattered from the effects of the long war against
the Japanese and the ensuing civil war between tile
Communists and the Nationalists. In 1957, the five-year
plan had been put into effect by the Communists, pushing
collectivization of farmland and building and beginnings
of an internal industrial base.
The much hearalded "Great Leap Forward' was launch
ed in 1958, but by 1962 the worst effects of the "Great
Leap" policy had made themselves felt. These included a
lowered agricultural production. The 1961 harvest was
about the same as the 1956 harvest, but there were 60
million more mouths to feed.
As political tensions increased between the two major
Communist powers, Russia and China, the Soviets with
drew most of their economic and technical aid from China.
And at the end of 1962. China found itself engaged in
an undeclared war with India along the mountainous bor
der between the two countries.
Despite the mistakes that have been made since the
Communists drov the Nationalist Chinese onto their is
land sanctuary of Formosa, there is mounting evidence
that mainland China is beginning to build an industry that
will have to be reckoned with in the future.
Nationalist China
Ten years ago Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was busy
mustering all his strength to fend off the threat of Com
munist invasion of Formosa from the mainland. Today
the roles are reversed. The Communists found it necessary
last May to bolster their defense force along the Formosa
straits in the face of mounting threats of invasion by
Chiang's modern and well-equipped army.
The per capita income lias risen from S26 in 1952 to
S105 in 1961, despite the increase of four million in pop
ulation to about 12 million.
The Nationalist goverment has become more stabilized.
In 1952, only three years after Chiang led his two million
mainland followers to Formosa, wholesale political arrests
on the slightest suspicion of Communist connections were
common. Today political arrests are uncommon.
India
India's history lor the past 10 years has been one of
increased economic growth, on which the Indian govern
ment has concentrated in a series of five-year plans be
ginning in March. 1951.
Increased production has brought more good things to
the poor masses of India. Most Indians are noticeably better
dressed then they were 10 years ago. Kerosene lamps,
which were a luxury then, can be seen burning now even
In remote villages, and the middle classes ride bicycles
instead of walking.
As the year ends, India is locked in a battle of words
and bullets with its giant neighbor. Communist China.
What this will do to India s economic problems can not
be foreseen, but it certainly will slow down Prime Min
ister Nehru's program.
Ceylon
Ceylon a decade ago was ruled by the pro-Western,
but unsteady government of Prime Minister Dudley Sen
anayake who followed his strongman father after the
lattcrs death. The economic situation was good with the
tea and rubber economy riding high on the Korean war
boom. Foreign private investment was beginning to leave
the country at the rate of $6 million per year. The Tamils
and Sinhalese were getting along together.
S W R D. Bandaranaikc won an upset election over the
ruling United Nations secretary in 1958 and, as premier,
formed a neutralist, leftist government. His platform of
making Smhala the official language and the rise of
Buddhist Natiimlism threw the island into turmoil.
Banciarana'kc widow is now the world's only woman
premier. Smhala is the national language, and the Tamils
in the norm continue to aaitate.
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An area wnere world tensions still exist.
Pakistan
Although President Mohammad Ayub Khan has said
the people are free to form political parties, many of the
former political leaders have been barred from politics.
Many of these men have joined forces with the old Muslim
league leaders to form a so-called non-political national
front, campaigning for "the restoration of democracy" in
the new constitution promulgated by Ayub.
Economically, Pakistan has moved forward in the past
10 years, mainly because of foreign aid, the effort of the
martial law regime to cut down on graft and corruption,
and the Ayub regime's newly-established relationship with
Communist nations in matters of trade and other ex
change programs.
Indonesia
Indonesia today is under the full and complete per
sonal rule of President Sukarno, backed by armed forces
chlcf-of-staff Gen. A. H. Nasution and a hand-picked parli
ament. The revolutionary constitution of 1945 has been
restored, and the nation is in a state of martial law under
the president's direct command to enforce his "guided
democracy," with tight controls over the press, political
activity and individual liberty.
Sukarno's campaign to get control of West New Guinea
from the Netherlands was culminated in a negotiated
settlement giving Indonesia control of the largely unde
veloped territory after a brief United Nations interim administration.
Malaya, Singapore
Malaya has emerged within the past decade from a
dependent territory ruled by Great Britain to a thriving
independent nation with one of the highest standards of
living in Asia.
Foreign investors, impressed by a proposed merger of
Malaya with Singapore and the Borneo territories into a
combined Malaysia, arc today pouring in capital.
Although Communists and Leftist labor groups have
launched numerous strikes and demonstrations in Singa
pore, the breakaway of these groups from the ruling party
last year, followed by the decision of the people of Singa
pore in voting for merger and Malaysia, has regained the
confidence of investors in Singapore's industry. Business
is booming and Singapore's future is bright.
Philippines
Changes in the Philippines have not been great in the
past decade. President Macapagal Is sworn to fight cor
ruption, just as was President Magsaysay in 1952. The
democratic form of government is the same, us is the
political alignment.
The population has gone up by seven million to nearly
29 million. Per capital income has increased from $81
in 1952 to $101 in 1961.
The economic future of the Philippines is bright. The
country is made up of rich underdeveloped islands which
could support a population much larger than the nation
will have in the foreseeable future.
Viet Nam
Viet Nam, once part of the fabled French Indo-China
empire, is one of Asia's two partitioned areas that exist
half Communist and half militantly anti-Communist.
South Viet Nam, under the control of President Ngo
Dinh Diem, is perhaps as troubled today as it was when
it first came into being as a state on Oct. 26, 1955.
North Viet Nam may be less disturbed than it was when
the ceasefire ended a long and costly battle against the
French on July 21, 1954, and resulted in the dividing of
the country along the 17th parallel. But the Communist
rulers of North Viet Nam are trying just as hard to bring
the entire country under their control with the usual Com
munist tactics.
The United States stepped in a year ago and staked
its reputation and perhaps the future of southeast Asia
on a battle against the Communists. The United States
has poured in millions of dollars of military and economic
assistance. It has an estimated 11,000 U.S. military men
helping direct the anti-guerilla war in South Viet Nam at a
cost of a million dollars a day to the American taxpayer,
and at the even greater cost of American lives in combat.
Laos
The little kingdom of Laos has had more than its share
of troubles in the past 10 years. In 1952 Laos was an
"associate state of the French Union," having made some
progress toward independence from French rule with
agreements signed with Franch in 1946 and 1949. The
form of government existing in 1952 was, as it is today,
constitutional monarchy, governed by a council of min
isters responsible to a national assembly.
Thailand
Thailand has moved much more firmly toward the
West in all its dealings. It has banned Communist Chinese
products, and closed left-leaning newspapers. Although
Thailand's history has generally been on the side of the
West, Including sending troops to Korea to fight for the
United Nations, the new government has firmly blocked
Communist inroads which were being successfully made
under the government which was deposed in 1958.
The United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand
sent troops to Thailand earlier this year at Thailand's
request when there was a threat of a Communist in
vasion from Laos, but these troops have virtually all been
withdrawn.
South Korea
South Koreans lived through two revolutions and the
end of the Korean war during the past decade. They have
recently been under a strict military rule, but they are
much better off then they were 10 years ago. Earlier this
month, the military junta that has been ruling South Korea
announced the end of martial law. And a new constitution
was scheduled to be submitted to the people for approval
in a referendum.
South Korea today is under the rule of a military
junta headed by strongman Gen. Park Chun Hee and
martial law is in effect. Civil rights have been curtailed.
There is no elected parliament, and political parties are
not allowed to operate.
North Korea
Premier Kim II Sung has consolidated his dictatorial
control over the North Korean people through a series of
purges during the past decade while rebuilding the country
from the destruction of the Korean war.
In I960, North Korea claimed it had reached the goal!
of an ambitious five-yenr plan one year ahead of schedule,
and launched a more ambitious seven-year plan starting"
in 1981. The new plan envisages North Korea as a highly
industralized country on about the same level as Japan
by 1970.
Russian Generations Are Crossing Quills
BY JAY AXELBANK
United Press International
Moscow-OT-In the Soviet Union where poetry and
politics mix, there is an old saying, "if it is written with
a pen you cannot remove it with a hatchet."
Seldom has this been more evident in today's Russian
literary world in which two generations arc crossing quills
in a dispute over dc-Stalinization, a dispute as political
and personal as it is literary.
In one camp are many of the writers and poets who
rose to prominence under the late dictator's rule and who
cannot, even if they would, change the record they wrote.
In the other camp is the younger generation, writers
born too late to remember, let alone admire, a now-shattered
God and too late to respect or understand well those
who offer apologies for the Stalin era.
While literary feuds are not a Soviet monopoly, they
have a special significance In Russia. From Pushkin to
Pasternak and now Yevtushenko Russian poets have
ofen been the exposed nerves of the Russian conscience,
revered by intellectuals and respected by th nation's rulers.
When a poet speaks the Russian people listen. So
when the good or evil of the past or the present is recit
ed in the works of contemporary poets, the significance
goes deep.
Russian poetry does not translate well into English
but two "Stalin" poems, by two of Russia's currently best
known poets, will illustrate the unique situation in cur
rent Russian literature.
The first is by Yevgeny Ycvlushenko who in the past
year has gained international attention as Russia's "angry
young man." He was only 19 when Stalin died. His is
anti-Stalin in aim and tone.
The other is by Yevgeny Dolmatovsky who. at 47, is
well know in Russia both as poet and song writer. His
work is more gentle with the Stalin memory and strikes
out against such writers as Ycvtushenko.
There are the poems in as nearly literal translation as
possible:
O
"Stalin's Heirs"
By Yevgeny Yevtushenko
"When he was carried through the door of the mausoleum.
"The marble was silent. The speechless glass was glistening.
"The guards were standing silently,
"Turning the bronze in the wind.
"While the coffin was slightly steaming,
"The breath was leaking through the Ills
"The coffin was floating slowly, touching the bayonets
by Its edges,
"He was silent, too, but terribly silent,
"Grimly clenching his embalmed fists,
"In the coffin a man who pressed himself against the slits,
"A man who pretended to be dead.
"He wanted to remember all those who removed him from
the mausoleum
"Young recruits from Ryazan and Kursk
"So that sometime later he could gather up the strength'
and get out
"And stand up from the ground and show them, unreason
able souls, the truth.
"He has something on his mind,
"He has just lain down to have a nap.
"And I address our government with an appeal:
"To double, to treble the number of guards at his slib
"So that Stalin cannot rise, and together with this Stalin
the past.
"I am speaking not about that sacred and valiant past . . .
"In this case I mean by the past the oblivion of people's
interests, calumnies, arrests of the innocents."
"We sowed honestly,
"We melted metal honestly,
"And we honestly marched, formed into soldiers' ranks
"While he was afraid of us.
"He, who believed in a great goal still did not believe
"That the means must be worthy of that goal's greatness."
"He was far sighted.
"He was wise in the laws of the struggle,
"And he left behind many an heir on the globe.
"It seems to me as if a telephone is put Into the coffin
"And Stalin is giving his Instructions to Enver Hoxha
"Where else docs the wire from that coffin stretch?
"No, Stalin has not surrendered.
"He thinks that death can be helped.
"We have removed him from the mausoleum
"But how can we remove Stalin from Stalin's heirs?
(Editor's note: Hoxha heads the Albanian government
which is antagonistic to Khrushchev's coexistence policy
and ideology and favors the old Stalin "hard" line also
supported by Red China).
"Some of his resigned heirs cut rose bushes
"But in their heart of hearts they think that this
resignation is temporary.
"Some of them curse Stalin from the tribunes
"While at night they pine for old times.
"It's not without reason that Stalin's heirs are subjected
today to heart attacks.
"For they, who used to be pillars, don't like the lime when
prison camps are empty
"And halls, where people listen to the poetry recited, arc
over-crowded.
"The party has ordered me not to stay tranquil.
"Let someone repeat over and over again,, 'Be Quiet.'
"I cannot be quiet.
"I won't be able to be still while there are Stalin's heirs
on the earth.
"It will seem to me that Stalin is still In the mausoleum."
O
"The Funeral That Never Was"
fttf Yivaenv Dolmalovlkv
"I am being buried by young men
"As if to say your time has travelled by.
"First they are taking out my medals, like cakes on a
plate.
"And here is the coffin, a roughly-hammered crate,
"Since my gravesmen do not know how to use real tools,
"A chisel and a hammer.
"There are only a few people In the funeral procession
"A cocktail drinker, a master of wild dances,
"And a decadent who Is shouting 1 am an Innovator,
"What is he, that I fostered yesterday?
"Here is Vagankova cemetery
"It is time to dig the grave
"Their shoulders arc rather aching under the weight of
the coffin
"And where can they find the ability and strength to dig a
trrnch?
"The dead man has to rise from his coffin and hold a short
Instruction session
"Myself, a subway builder, and a lieutenant colonel. I am
digging my pit for the last time.
(Vagankova is a cemetery where a number of Russian
writers arc buried.)
"Now I am not trying to force myself on you as an In
structor or a teacher,
"But while burying old optimists you will, in the first
place,
"Learn from me how to dig trenches and mould Iron.
"Yet cynics cannot bear other people's counsels
"And they detest my knowledge.
"However they beg for money to remember me.
"If they will not, they will spend it for their daily needs..
"I cannot entrust my interment to boys who look lika
old men.
"So the dead man, cursing and swearing, has riven up
from the his grave.
"He belongs to the ages, now to you."
O
Yevtushenko, In his "Stalin's Heirs" and other writings
goes at the Stalin era with a sledgehammer, a sledge
hammer that has made some of the older Russian writers
such as Dolmatovsky wince as they feel it strikes at them,
too.
Thus, it Is taken for granted here that when Dolma
tovsky poetizes about "being buried by young men" he
meuns Yevtushenko and others like him. Another older
poet, Ashot Garnakeryan, took pen in hand recently to
put In verse that "there is not a single stain on our
conscience." The point he argued was that the younger
poets and young generation In general had been raughl
their very spirit of rebellion by his own generation. This
is what Dolmatovsky's "The Funeral That Never Was"
also is saying.
Yevtushenko, 29, was born to a father who was a
man of culture, a concert pianist and geologist. The boy
showed a literary flair early in life. At 10 he had written
a childish novel and two years later was getting some
occasional verses printed. Through his earliest 20's he
ground out non-political poems, mostly about love, while
olhers wrote of social themes. He still is scorned by some
of the country's older writers for this "escapist" period.
lie became angrier or perhaps bolder under the
growth of the Khrushchev de-Slallnlzallon drive which
also brought with it a general liberalization of written
thought.
Then a year ago his poem "Babl Yar" an Indignant
blast against anti-semitism was given a public reading
and Yevtushenko became famous almost overnight.
Dolmatovsky, son of a working man, has known hard
work, which Yevtushenko never has. In contrast to Yevtus
henko's quick success Dolmatovsky's came more slowly,
building up after the war during which he Joined the Com
munist party and served as a war correspondent. In 1943
he turned his hand to a series of Inspirational poems titled
"Faith In Victory" which were published In 1943. A year
later he attracted attention with another collection he
called "Poems From Afar." In 1050 was awarded a
Stalin prize.
Whatever Yevtushenko and other angry young men in
Russia may claim, Dolmatovsky and other middle aged
writers do not believe tlu-y have anything to apologize
for to the upstarts described by Garnakeryan as "angry
and unsaven." So, until and unless the Kremlin orders
halt, the battle of words presumably will go on.
7